Press freedom has a good day: WPFD, the Daniel Pearl Act

Yesterday was a good one for press freedom. “The United States joins the international community in celebrating World Press Freedom Day,” said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a statement. “Wherever independent media are under threat, accountable governance and human freedom are undermined.” She went on to defend harassed or jailed bloggers in nations from Cuba to Burma. Clinton further noted that 71 journalists, citing CPJ figures, were killed last year, many murdered with impunity.

But
last year was a bad one for press freedom, said President Barack Obama. More
media workers “were killed for their work last year than any year in recent
history,” reads the White
House statement. “In this year, like in other years, nearly three out of
four of the journalists killed were local news-gatherers who were murdered in
their own nations.”

Obama
went on to acknowledge one local
journalist: Chauncey Bailey, who was gunned down three years ago in his own
town of Oakland, California, while taking a homeless man to
breakfast. “A trial of the alleged perpetrator is scheduled to begin this
summer,” said Obama’s statement. “Such accountability is critical to deterring
future attacks.”

Accountability
and the need for more specific information in order to prosecute ongoing press
freedom abuses is the impetus behind the Daniel Pearl Freedom of the Press Act,
which the Senate unanimously
passed last week. Identical to the bill that already passed the house, the
legislation will now go to the president, who is expected to sign it into law.

“Daniel
Pearl’s life was an inspiration to all of us,” said Congressman
Adam Schiff (D-CA), founder of the Congressional Caucus for Freedom of the Press,
who introduced the bill last year. “We hope this legislation will help the United States
work with other nations to better protect his colleagues serving on the
frontlines in the fight for greater accountability and transparency.”

The
legislation would require the State Department to expand its reporting on press
freedom to identify
countries in which there were violations of press freedom; determine whether
the government authorities of those countries participate in, facilitate, or
condone the violations; and report the actions such governments have taken to
preserve the safety and independence of the media and ensure the prosecution of
individuals who attack or murder journalists.

CPJ
Chairman Paul Steiger was Daniel
Pearl’s editor at The Wall Street Journal
when he was abducted and later killed.